My name is Megan. I'm not a West Point grad. I am just 1 of 2.5employees in the basement of a small organization underlying so manybig things - just like the Mickey Mouses in an engine.

What?

Years ago my dad and I dismantled the engine of my car. It was a 1977Mercedes 240D (diesel). It was green, had naugahyde seats, holes inthe floorboard and it was 15 years old and I loved it! I'd blown theengine in the desert near Vegas and we towed it back to southern CA.At the time I was living on a chicken farm on campus at Cal Poly whereI was an animal science major. We pushed the car under the rafters ofa barn and hoisted the engine up and out and began tearing it apart.When we pulled the first piston out of the block, my dad flipped itover grinning at me, "Look what I found!" There were three overlappingcircular indentations on the head of the piston. Inside the heart ofmy engine was a Mickey Mouse! (Technically the indentations are valvereliefs to prevent the piston head and the valve from hitting duringthe compression stroke, but my first thought was Mickey Mouse.) Therewere four pistons - four tiny mouses - working tirelessly so I couldwander the country, the wind in my hair, every road a new adventure.

And just like those mouses, is WP-ORG.

After Christmas last year I received pictures from a lady inWashington state who'd executed what may have been the most epic AllAcademy Ball ever. It was a WWII-USO-Hawaiian-Luau-themed affair withfire dancers and antique cars and WWII vets as special guests. She'dcalled months before to map out her vision and ask if WP-ORG couldhelp. We could, and did, of course. The registration and payment sitewe built together matched her theme and removed all worry about guestlists, gathering checks and tracking numbers.https://secure.west-point.org/wppcwa/allacademiesball From thepictures, it seemed the party lived up to its hype in every way and Ionly wished I'd been there! But it was enough to quietly know WP-ORGhad once again been a smoothly turning gear underpinning the successof yet another grand party.

It is but one of the hundreds of examples of WP-ORG enabling greatthings to happen by playing a vital role at the core of somethingbigger and flashier. On a shoestring budget, a 2.5 person staff andhundreds of volunteers, we are at the heart of the engine, enablingyou to do big things.